YCS Kansas City Deck Profile: Maurice Brantley’s Dark World Deck

December 12th, 2011

Grapha came through at YCS Kansas, taking three of his loyal followers to the Top 32! One of them was Maurice Brantley, who piloted a cool Dark World Deck packing cards like DarkSmog and Ceruli, Guru of Dark World. Dark World decks pack lots of attack power thanks to Grapha, Dragon Lord of Dark World and his 2700 ATK. Since Grapha can be Special Summoned from the Graveyard every turn, Dark World Duelists command deadly aggression. They’re also consistent because they have cards that let them draw more cards and search cards directly from the Deck. Brantley took things one step further and gave his Deck some slick advantages over other Dark World builds. Here are the big strengths that make this Deck successful…

-This Deck has the ability to look at and interfere with the opponent’s hand with DraggedDownintotheGrave and DeckDevastationVirus. That gives you powerful information about your opponent’s plans.

-Ceruli, Guru of Dark World unlocks the most powerful effects of Grapha, Sillva, Broww, and Snoww.

-DarkSmog banishes the important cards from your opponent’s Graveyard.

Playing Ceruli gave Brantley big plays that other Dark World Decks just don’t have. Combined with the disruptive power of DarkSmog and DeckDevastationVirus, plus a string of tricks that let him predict his opponent’s moves and beat them, Brantley had a winning strategy. Here’s what his Deck looked like!

-The Field Spell The Gates of Dark World boosts your Fiend-Types by 300 ATK. Once a turn, it lets you banish a Fiend from your Graveyard, to discard a Fiend and draw a card. Combined with cards like Dragged Down and DarkWorldDealings, this deck packs lots of ways to discard Dark World monsters and claim their effects.

-Snoww and Broww each get you more cards from your Deck when they’re discarded. Pitch Grapha, and his effect destroys an opposing card of your choice.

-You can Special Summon Grapha from the Graveyard by returning 1 of your face-up Dark World monsters from the field to your hand. This guarantees that you always have a powerful attacker.

One of the big cards that sets Brantley’s Deck apart from the rest is Ceruli, Guru of Dark World. Most Dark World Decks are all about discarding monsters for their effects. Brantley’s version is different: when you discard Ceruli, it Special Summons itself to your opponent’s side of the field. That triggers its ability, which makes you – Ceruli’s owner – discard a card of your choice. Most Dark World monsters have one ability when they’re discarded by a card effect and an extra ability that gets tacked on to the first one if they’re discarded by an opponent’s card effect. And since your opponent controls Ceruli, you’ll get that extra ability. That allows you to…

-Draw 2 cards (instead of 1) with Broww.

-Search your deck for a Dark World card with Snoww, and Special Summon a monster from your opponent’s Graveyard.

-Destroy a card with Grapha, then look at a card in your opponent’s hand. If it’s a monster, you get to Special Summon it to your field.

-Special Summon Sillva, then return 2 cards from your opponent’s hand to the bottom of their Deck.

These effects are all pretty amazing: Snoww and Sillva are especially vicious, and they can win Duels all on their own. This Deck still has all the moves of a regular Dark World build, but by using Ceruli as a middle-man, it can make even bigger plays.

Another great monster that many Dark World Duelists overlook is DarkHighlander – two of the three Top 32 Dark World Duelists played it. Highlander has 2800 ATK and a killer effect: when it’s on the field, neither Duelist can Synchro Summon. Dark World Duelists don’t Synchro Summon much anyways, while decks like Synchrocentric and Karakuris need Synchro Monsters to win. Take them away, and victory is yours. DarkHighlander requires all Fiends for its Synchro Materials, but it’s easy to Summon in this strategy: just discard Beiige for FabledRaven’s effect. You’ll boost Raven to Level 3, and Special Summon Beiige with its ability: Tune them together to unleash DarkHighlander!

This Deck plays really interesting Trap Cards. Since it can use everything from Dragged Down to Grapha’s extra ability to see the opponent’s hand, it can run two copies of MindCrush. And since it’s so easy to keep Special Summoning Grapha, it plays two DeckDevastationViruses too. Tribute Grapha for the Virus, and you can wipe out all of your opponent’s monsters with 1500 ATK or less. It’ll even destroy monsters in your opponent’s hand, and any they draw over the next three turns. Just Special Summon Grapha back when you’re finished.

Brantley also played two DarkSmogs. The new Continuous Trap lets you discard a Fiend-Type once a turn and banish a card from your opponent’s Graveyard. That helps you use your Dark World effects. Since you can Chain Dark Smog to the activation of whatever you want to stop, you’ll outplay cards like Glow-Up Bulb, Spore, and Pot of Avarice. You can even banish your opponent’s Grapha in the mirror match.

All three Dark World Duelists who made the cut in Kansas played different twists on the same strategy. But Maurice Brantley’s version has the biggest combos, and the best disruption cards to keep the competition off balance. Give it a shot, and see the havoc that Ceruli and DarkSmog can wreak on your opponents!